Kent Island

The state Board of Public Works' unusual decision last week to deny a crucial permit to a large, long-planned waterfront community on Kent Island has developers crying foul and warning that more sprawl could result. Environmentalists, meanwhile, say the state board's last-minute derailment of the Four Seasons project in Queen Anne's County highlights the need for more stringent controls on development to protect the Chesapeake Bay. It remained unclear last week what would become of the eight-year-old plan to build 1,350 homes for "active adults" on former farmland near the eastern end of the Bay Bridge.

Amid warnings that Maryland's development laws and regulations are not strong enough to protect the Chesapeake Bay, the state Board of Public Works denied yesterday a key wetlands permit for a proposed 1,350-home waterfront community on Kent Island. In the most substantial evidence yet of the growing influence of environmentalists in Annapolis, the board voted 2-1 to deny the developer permission to disturb a small patch of wetlands for the proposed 562-acre Four Seasons project. "This is really important," said Cindy Schwartz, executive director of the Maryland League of Conservation Voters, "and I think it sends an incredible signal to the Marylanders out there who want to clean up the bay."

When the state Board of Public Works considers a wetlands permit today for the largest development ever proposed for Kent Island, board members are unlikely to hear anything negative about the 1,350-unit project -- at least from local elected officials, who fear they'll wind up in court for speaking out. That's in spite of a nonbinding legal opinion, released yesterday by Attorney General Douglas Gansler, which found that a 2003 settlement forbidding Queen...

2-way bridge traffic a recipe for tragedy The article about the investigation of last week's tragic Bay Bridge crash had a statement from Marcus L. Brown, chief of the Maryland Transportation Authority Police, that two-way traffic does not appear to have been a factor in the crash ("Two-way traffic likely not factor in bridge pileup," May 12). The crash was not caused by two-way traffic, but two-way traffic made the potential for multiple fatalities much greater. If a trailer comes disengaged from a vehicle when all traffic is heading the same way, it's going to cause an accident, but if it can go into oncoming traffic when the traffic has no shoulder to swerve into, tragedy is almost certain to occur.

ISSUE: Proponents of a high-speed, passengers-only ferry service linking Annapolis, Kent Island and Baltimore held a sea trial last week, with a 22-minute voyage the group hopes will show the feasibility of the idea. Several backers of the idea rode a 38-foot powerboat between City Dock and Matapeake State Park on Kent Island, the latest effort by a committee of city officials, ferry fans and urban planners. Their draft proposal calls for two-vessel service from the harbor in Baltimore to Kent Island and then to City Dock.

Juniors Julie Gardner and Hayley Rausch scored three goals each and another junior, Allison Behringer, added a pair as No. 3 Severna Park dealt fierce rival and No. 7 Broadneck a third straight defeat this season, this time in the Class 4A-3A East region semifinals, 9-5. Last Tuesday, Severna Park, the defending regional champion and state runner-up to No. 9 Dulaney in 2006, defeated Broadneck, 12-8, for the Anne Arundel County title. The visiting Bruins (13-3) took a 2-0 lead on goals by Chelsea Thompson and Logan Bilderback, but the Falcons (17-0)

Maryland Comptroller Peter Franchot has a message for the developers of a controversial waterfront development in Queen Anne's County: Let the county commissioners speak. Troubled by a gag order imposed on the commissioners, Franchot requested yesterdaythat the developers of a Four Seasons community on Kent Island suspend part of their settlement agreement with the county and allow the officials to testify at the next Board of Public Works meeting. The Four Seasons project, a long-fought development slated for the eastern shoreline of Kent Island, has hit a snag at the board where Franchot and other members have expressed reservations about the environmental impact of building 1,300 homes in land designated as a Chesapeake Bay "critical area."

Three people were killed and five others injured yesterday as seven vehicles collided on the Chesapeake Bay Bridge - the deadliest accident there in more than a decade and one of the worst in its history. The pileup occurred just after 4 p.m. on the newer, three-lane span after a trailer being towed by a sport utility vehicle broke loose, and other drivers swerved to avoid impacts. Also involved were two pickup trucks, a flatbed truck, tractor-trailer tanker rig, work van and a car - the latter nearly obliterated.

Commuter ferry gets test run on the bay Proponents of a high-speed, passengers-only ferry service linking Annapolis, Kent Island and Baltimore held a sea trial yesterday, with a 22-minute voyage the group hopes will show the feasibility of the idea. Several backers of the idea rode a 38-foot powerboat as it skimmed over the water between Annapolis' City Dock and Matapeake State Park on Kent Iisland. "It's such a pleasant way to get around," said Bruce Johnson, a naval architecture expert on the Naval Academy faculty who commuted on the water when he lived in Seattle.